PRODUCTISE.IN: The Successor to FOSS.IN…

This is possibly the fastest that Team FOSS.IN has ever put together an event.

As promised in my last post, here is some information about the new event series that we are putting together. And with your support, it will be every bit as successful as its predecessor:

Say hello to

PRODUCTISE.IN is a new productdeveloper event series that we are kicking off, and it will happen on December 5-7, 2011 January 12-14, 2012, in Bangalore, India. And yes, it will be at the fabulous NIMHANS Convention Center, where we had our previous FOSS.IN conferences.

Understanding PRODUCTISE.IN

There are bound to be questions about this new event, and we will be putting up answers at the website ASAP, but here are a few you should immediately know:

Is PRODUCTISE.IN yet another startup/business/conclave/talking-heads event?

No. We don’t do events like that. PRODUCTISE.IN is a platform for ProductDEVELOPERS – it is a technical event. While there will be talks/workshops that will be non-technical in nature (e.g. “Designing Products with Users in Mind”), they will all be targeted at developers, not business folks. There will be no talks about funding a startup, pitches to VCs, or exit strategies. This is not about creating startups, but about products that startups (and established businesses) create.

Can I showcase my product at the event?

If you rent an expo-stall, then you will be able to show off your products there, but you will not be able to showcase your product from the PRODUCTISE.IN stages. This is not a marketing/selling/business event – it is a technology event.

What will I learn at PRODUCTISE.IN?

You will learn how to build great, world-class products that users will love. You will learn how to overcome technology-pitfalls (both at the front-end and server-side), and you will meet and interact others who are either getting started, or are already deep into the development of their products.

Is this event limited to FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) products only?

No. While almost no product can be created today without using FOSS in some way or the other, this event is not restricted to Open Source products. There are no ideology-based restrictions. At the same time, we support FOSS big-time, so if you have a FOSS-based product (say, an open source GSM implementation, or an open source eBook reader OS), we want you at our event to show it off.

Do you have a theme?

You bet. This year, we decided to make it “The Next Billion Users” – targeting products for the mobile, tablet & web product space (aka the non-PC product space), but we are open to interesting/relevant talks & workshops involving other product spaces as well. But we really would like to focus on the future, not the past.

What about non-software products?

Same rule applies – if the talk is relevant and interesting, we will consider it. For example, if you have a new way of harvesting/utilising solar energy, and plan to productise it, we would be interested.

What do you expect to achieve with this event?

We hope to kick off a surge in product development activity, especially here in India (we are VERY proud of the “.in” in our name!), enable product developers to create world-class products, help solve problems for developers, and (most of all) connect people at all levels, get them talking, get them working together.

How will talks/speakers be chosen?

There will be a Call for Participation (CfP) coming out in the next couple of days – you submit your talk/workshop proposal there. To seed the talk stream, we are going to invite (that’s “nice talk” for “hold a gun to the head”) of a few well-known product developers/designers from across the world. to come and talk, but the majority of the talks/workshops will come in via the CfP. This is how we have done it for the past 10 years – we provide the platform and curate it, but the content comes from the product developer community.

Isn’t 7 weeks really short notice? What can we expect?

Yes, to be honest, this is short notice, and there are bound to be shortfalls, especially if you are used to our much-appreciated FOSS.IN event series. This event was triggered by circumstances we had no control over, but the good news is that this is the same team that did FOSS.IN for 10 years, so expect us to try our best to cross the bar that we ourselves set so high. If there is one team that has the experience to put together an event like this, it’s us.

How many people will be at the event?

We have no way of knowing. We will open delegate registrations ASAP, but we have to be realistic – this is the first time that such an event is going to happen here in India (possibly anywhere), and the concept will take time to mature and take hold. But we would not be surprised to see more than 10 and less than 10,000 people attend the event We will keep you posted as registrations start.

I am interested. Where can I tell you that?

Step 1: goregister your email address, so that we can figure out the interest levels, and can get back to you ASAP with more information.

Step 2: Use the link that you get when you register to spread via Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. that will show us how many others you got interested – and we will think up a nice little Thank You surprise for the people who spread the word the widest.

How are you funding this event?

Initially – out of our own pockets. Delegates will of course have to pay for their food and stuff. Don’t worry, we are not one of those INR 20K/head type conferences We are currently looking at delegate pricing similar to what we did at FOSS.IN (adjusted for increased costs). And we will of course be looking for sponsors and people wishing to take stalls at the expo, all of which will help pay for event expenses.

My organisation wishes to be a PRODUCTISE.IN sponsor!

We love you guys. Honestly, we do. Stay tuned, information will go up on the site ASAP.

I have questions that you didn’t answer!

Hell, so do we! But that’s what a community is about – to ask questions, and get answers. The best way to ask questions is to ask us on Twitter – that will let us know that the question exists, and can look for the answers. The Twitter hashtag is #productise – if you tag your tweet with that, we (and others) will be able to find it.